Two State Troopers Charged After Beating Fleeing Suspect

Before 18-year old Paul O’Neal was chased by Chicago police officers and killed by a gunshot in the back, there was another car chase on the East Coast.

It happened on May 11, 2016. The car chase lasted for about an hour and stretched from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. At times it exceeded 100 mph. The driver was 50-year old Richard Simone of Worchester, MA. He had warrants for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, larceny, and failure to stop for officers. The failure to stop for officers charge was because 3 days before May 11, 2016, Richard Simone led the police on another chase and rammed his truck into an officer’s vehicle.

On May 11, 2016, Simone’s truck struck a police vehicle during the chase, and at one point, officers put out sticks causing Simone to hit a telephone pole. He drove down a dead-end street where he finally stopped. Richard got out of his truck with his hands up, and laid face down on the ground. Officers then proceeded to beat Richard. The chase was shown live by several news helicopters, including the beating.

Richard Simone. Mugshot taken after beating.

“The force used at the time the suspect appeared to be surrendering was significant,” Gilles Bissonnette, legal director for the New Hampshire chapter of the ACLU, told the Union Leader. “We expect that there will be a thorough independent investigation to determine whether the force used was reasonable and proportional.”

Governors for both New Hampshire and Massachusetts showed concern over the beating and they reached out to others to start an investigation.

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan said in a statement, “The footage from yesterday raises serious concerns. All New Hampshire public safety officials are held to the highest standards and it is important and appropriate that the Attorney General’s office has opened an investigation into the incident.”
On July 19, 2016, two State Troopers were arrested for the beating of Richard Simone.

Joseph Flynn of the Massachusetts State Police has been charged with two counts of simple assault. He has been suspended with pay.

Andrew Monaco of the New Hampshire State Police is charged with three counts of simple assault. He was immediately relieved from duty without pay

Both have been released on their own recognizance and are scheduled to be arraigned in September.

New Hampshire State Police Director Robert Quinn told reporters;

“I want the public and law enforcement personnel to know that the division of state police does not condone the unjustified use of force, and it will not be tolerated.”

New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan said in a statement that the incident is being treated “with the utmost seriousness without disparaging all of the hard-working police officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe.”

The concern, actions taken by authorities, and professionalism shown by the Governors and New Hampshire State Police Director are honorable. They did not denigrate Richard Simone for being a criminal that deserved to be beaten. Richard survived. He has been charged and his future is in the hands of the criminal justice system.

Paul O’Neal, bleeding from gunshot wound to the back while being placed in handcuffs.

It is quite opposite of what we have read regarding the killing of Paul O’Neal.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told NBC 5 that, even after the preliminary review, “I am left with more questions than answers. As it appears right now, departmental policies may have been violated during the incident. When officers engage in intentional misconduct or inappropriate behavior, they have to be held accountable.”

In spite of Superintendent Johnson’s statement, social media and Youtube have taken to litigating the Chicago case, justifying Paul’s death for failure to comply, and for being Black. Some are taking the position that Paul tried running over police officers, using the car as a weapon, giving them justification to shoot. However, Paul was not in the car when he was shot.

No one is on social media saying these things about Richard Simone. The racist remarks are thick, ugly, and give more credibility to the issues of the Black Lives Matter Movement regarding inequalities and double standards.

Richard Simone and Paul O’Neal were both wrong. Richard had warrants. Paul was suspected of stealing a car. Both fled from the police. But, the officers’ response in both cases after the suspects were out of their vehicles are also wrong, and two wrongs do not ever make a right.

The family of unarmed 18-year-old Paul O’Neal has filed a lawsuit, naming the Chicago Police Department and the officers involving in the shooting. The lawsuit alleges wrongful death and that Paul’s constitutional rights were violated. Family spokesman Ja’Mal Green stated;

“If he was in a stolen vehicle and he committed a crime that is for the court system to decide what his sentence should be, not the police officers executing this boy, shooting him in the back.”

Glenn,
I heard someone once say that police handcuff wounded or dead suspects to keep themselves safe just in case they try to go for a cop’s gun. It’s another one of those superhuman fantasies, I suppose.

Yep, that line always blows my mind. Maybe coroners will start putting in autopsies that the cause of death is “Gunshot wounds to the back. Death was accelerated by the utter lack of medical assistance immediately after high speed missiles entered decedents upper back. Decedent was subsequently handcuffed which caused bleeding to accelerate”

Dude……….you just broke every law and policy possible by shooting at a fleeing person. No matter what they did, they now pose no threat to you, so you shoot them in the back !!! Sounds like what the Nazis did. But then again……..that’s just me.

Hey Racer! There’s something I wonder about. If the police pursues a suspect on my private property and kills the suspect, they would be buying me a new house. Of course, they will try to pass blame on the suspect for running on my property, but I would challenge whether the police have jurisdiction to be on my property when I did not call them.

Also, considering the procedure that they are not to shoot at a fleeing vehicle, I would love being a fly on the wall when the insurance company gets a claim for the car and counts the number of bullet holes in it.

I totally agree that a fleeing suspect poses no threat. I have held that position since Trayvon. He ran. A wounded Michael Brown ran. Walter Scott ran. Pursuing without using deadly force should be the policy.

Lack of respect for property; lack of respect for life. The killing has to stop.

No one is on social media saying these things about Richard Simone. The racist remarks are thick, ugly, and give more credibility to the issues of the Black Lives Matter Movement regarding inequalities and double standards.”

Yahtzee,
It’s really disgusting. Doesn’t the Blue Lives Matter folks believe that the Troopers were placed in danger of being run-over by Richard Simone? They have not held trial and deliberated to conclude that the Troopers will walk, but have already held trial and concluded that the Chicago cops will walk.

Yahtzee,
Thanks for your kind words. Some of the hypocrites fail to see that their hypocrisy also uses a racially prejudiced double-standard that does not judge the lives of all cops to matter when suspects of different races commit the same acts.

ABSOLUTELY Racer! I’m already reading arm-chair defense non-attorneys make excuses for the Chicago cops, including the excuse that Paul was using the car as a weapon. The video shows otherwise. First, the police went the wrong way down a one-way street. Whomever the driver of the stolen vehicle was, swerved to avoid hitting the cop car. One cop was standing on the sidewalk and the other cop whose body cam was on, jumped out and started shooting the second that the car passed the officer on the sidewalk.

Due process is what we are taught, just as we are taught the pledge of allegiance to the flag — “with liberty and justice for all.” Then municipalities and states get to make their own laws, ordinances, and rules and procedures, and find every way possible to give certain people discretion to violate those very things that we learn as children that our nation stands for. Law enforcement in other nations are able to serve and protect without killing its citizens. We need reform, and we need it now. Life is too precious.

“Minneapolis police and city officials on Monday unveiled new use-of-force policies aimed at mending the police-public divide.

“Key among the policy changes: Officers now must intervene if they witness inappropriate use of force by their colleagues. The policy also now adds a “sanctity of life” clause with a greater emphasis on de-escalation of situations. Previously, de-escalation was encouraged, but not mandated.”

Yahtzee,
I applaud Minn. police and city officials, but I do wonder if they considered why there is no or little intervention. We got a clue of why from the Rodney King beating. They actually anticipate that all officers will take a part in it so that no one or two can be held accountable for injuries or even death. So, if there are 8 officers and each one shoots, no one officer can be held accountable for the fatal shot. Remember the case where the officer stood on the hood of a car shooting into it? The judge said there was no way to determine if that officer fired the fatal shots?

Intervening when there is inappropriate use of force might stop a beating, but it doesn’t call back a bullet.

Yes that was cleveland i think? 130 some bullets fired at an unarmed couple. and i remember the cops in court and it was sickening to hear that judge’s BS excuse.
but it just dawned on me that they COULD HAVE found out who’s bullets killed those ppl if they really wanted. Couldn’t they match the bullets in the victims bodies w/the cops guns, just like they do every other criminals?
It’s not the victims fault the state would have to test dozens & dozens of guns to find the murderer. Maybe the cops shouldn’t have shot hundreds of bullets at two innocent ppl in the 1st place!

I just found that story saved in my phone this morning.
And what freaked me out was the police claimed they only started shooting because they mistook some car’s ‘backfire’ for gunfire.
But do cars really backfire? especially these days? I personally have never had a car backfire. Never! I’ve only seen it on TV.
Not even old cars. My1st car was a 1979 Mercury Bobcat ( an actual Cat Car for a 17yo Crazy Cat Lady!! But 6months later it was dead thanks to that dumbass sales guy!
Long story so lets just say EVERY CAR comes w/ ‘free’ water & oil in it! It just would’ve been good to know i was supposed to put some more in at some point!)

So anyway, i’m calling BS on the ‘back fire’ story unless someone besides these cops can attest to modern day cars backfiring.

Hey Shannon!
I had to go back and look. You’re right, it was Cleveland, and involved Michael Brelo. We reported on his trial in May 2015. By the way, he was fired in January of this year. He was fired for failing to comply with policy, including engaging in a vehicle pursuit and leaving the city without permission, and using force contrary to division policy.

My 1971 Toyota backfired. My dear hubby changed the oil. All of his cars had been 6 cylinders, so he put the same amount of oil that he put in his cars into my little 4 cylinder. LOL! Boy, did it backfire! That entire little car jumped as if it was belching. Maybe I should consider myself blessed because all it took to correct the problem was draining some oil.

Well that’s why God invented real mechanics?! Lmao!!
So you haven’t had a car backfire since 1971… Wonder how many of those cars, still on the road& have peeps pouring a gallon of oil in them…? Plot thickens.